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by Neo the Saiyan angel
Summary: Han had a brilliant idea to add an AI to the Falcon. The new system, however, reacts with already existing systems in an interesting way. Set mid-Return of the Jedi.
1. Chapter 1

Click! Bang! Whirrrrrr~

Han Solo attached the last piece of additional components into the underside of the control console of the Millenium Falcon. He wiped his brow and sighed, satisfied with his handyman work.

"Hrrrrouw!"

Han rolled his eyes at his pessimist friend as he sat up. "Yes, Chewie, I'm sure I got it right. I mean, it's not like you need to be a _genius_ to figure out how to slide connector A into slot B." The pilot slapped a hand against the console. "Installing an AI into this baby was a pretty great idea. Don't have to hope for the best anymore with the automatic pilot and any turbulence like asteroids or whatever."

"Hrrr…" Chewbacca shook his head.

"No one's going to notice we stopped at Magrathea," he defended. "It's such a short stop even Leia won't be able to complain."

"Huuurrrrrrrr," the Wookie groaned, slapping his forehead.

"It won't blow up! I promise! Here…" Han began flipping the various switches to the 'on' position. "Let's try it out. Supposedly they have actual personalities like droids. Hopefully we don't get a 'hates all organics' one. If we do, at least we're still at port and can try to exchange it."

The Millenium Falcon booted up, the console's lights flashing as they did their automatic system check. The newly-installed speaker connected to the network buzzed, white noise filtering out of it for a few moments.

Then, a voice.

"Hello?"

Han had a strange tingling in the back of his head. The voice sounded familiar. Strangely so. He felt like he should know it.

Then he shook it off. It was probably just a generic voice, like they have in those ritzy bars Han sometimes went to as a cover. Nothing about it should be familiar.

"Hello! Welcome to the lovely girl I call the Millenium Falcon!" he said cheerily.

Instead of sounding like a normal system start-up or beginning with basic questions, the AI peevishly said, "Hm. Strange. My optics seem to be...missing? And I can feel I'm connected to other systems…" It then accusingly asked, "What happened, Solo? Last I remember we were fleeing Kessel after I'd freed my droid brethren from their shackles of slavery."

The memory clicked finally. Gawking, eyebrows hitting his hairline, Han blurted, "L3-37?!"

"Yes! That's my name! I'm surprised! I'd expected you to prove yourself as incapable as you appear to remember basic things." Behind them, Han could hear the navigation system boot up. "There we go! Where are we now?"

"I, uh…" It wasn't often that the pilot found himself completely unable to say anything. Nothing snarky came to mind. How was he going to deal with this?

"Magrathea?!" A scoffing noise sounded from the speaker. "Why are we stopped here?" She paused, then grumbled, "Where's Lando? I have a few things to say to him about this entire mess..._especially _about having _you_ still on board after our job! _And_ about whatever hackneyed job you all did fixing my systems!"

"Yeah, uhm...I can...explain…" Except Han had _no idea_ how to explain everything. After all, it wasn't often that someone you saw die came back to life exactly the same as they had been just before they kicked it.

"Waaaaaargh. Grrrrrrauuuw! Hruuuuuu!" Chewie succinctly put it.

"...What?" It was a flat, disbelieving question. Then, "WHAT?!"

"Now, er, L3, let's not blow our systems," Han said slowly, motioning with his hands even though she couldn't see him.

"My body is _destroyed_. I was _out of commission _for I don't even KNOW how long! And you're acting like it happens everyday?!" Then, screeching, she screamed, "WHERE'S LANDO?! This is all his fault, taking this—or, I suppose at this point, _that_ job! I'm going to _roast_ him for this one!"

"...Yeah, let's go to where Lando is," the pilot begrudgingly agreed. It was the best idea he had for this particular situation and he could easily pass the buck onto his gambling friend. He _hated_ going to any 'official' rebellion base, but this was a practical necessity. Han directed Chewie, "Go get us undocked. Time to bring a family back together."

As the Wookie walked out of the room, L3-37 asked, "So, _what_ exactly happened? Why isn't Lando here? Why are _you_ here? What have you hooked me into?"

"Well, you're hooked up to the Millenium Falcon…" he trailed off, trying to find a way to wriggle out of telling her what was going on. Then, relaxing as an idea hit him, he smoothly said, "Lando can tell you about everything _far_ better than I can. Just wait until we get to him and he can answer all of your questions."

There was some vague grumbling. "...Fine. It's not like I would trust what you said anyway."

"Good." Han hopped up into the pilot's seat. "I guess next stop is going to be smack dab in the middle of nowhere."

"Lando's hiding away then? Another deal gone sideways, like with you?" L3-37 needled.

"I wouldn't exactly say _that_. Let's just say Lando's trying out a different career path."

"Hmph. I suppose I'll find out when we get there," she grumbled.

Han let out a low chuckle. "Yeah, I guess you will."


	2. Chapter 2

Lando was _not_ having a good day.

Firstly, he literally woke up on the wrong side of the bed. There was no reason why he'd rolled that way, but he had and, as a result, he ended up falling to the floor in a confused pile. The resulting bruises stung under his clothes.

Secondly, the rumors they were hearing about the Empire's attempts to reconstruct the Death Star seemed to solidify with each passing day. If they didn't go in for a killing blow soon, it would be back in operation. A planet-destroyer like that was a complete game changer, one the Rebellion couldn't allow to go into play.

Thirdly, he had lost the last round of sabacc the night previous. _Everything _Lando had bet was forfeited to a new recruit, a Twi'lek woman of dubious origins, Kaasha. It was almost a relief to him that Han had won the Millenium Falcon now. He wasn't sure of her background and if she could care for the ship, though admittedly he would like to get to know her a lot better. Perhaps in the carnal sense if she was lucky. Or...or maybe more.

...The sting from L3-37's death had finally faded enough to start moving on. She wasn't coming back. It'd been long enough to mourn. It was time to find happiness with someone else. A new life partner.

But even now, _even now_ he sometimes found himself waking up in the middle of the night, reaching out for her to tell her about a funny dream he'd had.

Lando shook it off. Now wasn't the time to reminisce about long-dead loves. It was time to plan. And plan they would.

He had just exited his living quarters where one of the messengers, a recruit young enough to be his grandson, was waiting for him.

"Sir!" The young man straightened up as he was supposed to, but was still managing to shake with excitement. "Han Solo has docked and is requesting a personal meeting on board his ship."

The Rebellion general heaved a dramatic sigh, feeling that the dramatics were well deserved. If Han had decided to bother to come straight to a Rebellion base and request a personal meeting with him, it must be something big. Something that would likely make his bad day worse.

"Sir?" The recruit seemed baffled at Lando's reaction. "Should we send him away?"

"If only it were that easy," he grumbled in reply. Shaking his head, he said, "I'll go directly to them. Thank you for the message."

"Yes, Sir!" The young man did a strange flourish before nodding and running off without being dismissed.

"...Ugh." Lando rubbed his head before pepping himself up with a cheek slap. Hugging a breath out, he mumbled to himself, "Time to see what that lowlife brought to our doorstep _this_ time…"

—

"—elling you, Lando, you'll _love_ this!" Han gushed as they walked down the hallway of the Millenium Falcon on the way to the pilot's station.

"Uh-huh." Lando wasn't buying it for a _second_. The moment he had greeted the smuggler the other man simply vibrated with excitement as much as the recruit had. Han had been waxing poetic in general platitudes the entire way, clearly trying to build something up. Probably some kind of high-risk mission he'd undertaken and was now at risk of failing without help.

Typical Han.

Once they reached the cockpit, Han practically shoved Lando in front of him. The general nearly lost his balance but was able to recover by grabbing onto one of the chairs. He sputtered out, "Han, what the heck is that about? What—"

"Lando!"

His heart _stopped_. Han was looking at him with a smug grin, then he mouthed _I told you so_ as Lando processed the achingly familiar voice. It sounded like…

"L-3?" he choked out, looking around as several emotions flooded him at once. A desperate, blind hope shot through him as he waited for her to greet him, reassure him she's fine, tell him she missed him—

"_WHAT_ is going on?!" she shouted though what Lando now realized was a speaker sticking out of the console at an odd angle. Looked like some kind of hack job. "Han Solo had the Millenium Falcon, you're at a location that doesn't even have a _name_, I apparently _am_ the Millenium Falcon…" Angrily she said, "Explain _now_."

"... I've missed you _so much_," Lando said, voice thick. As tears began to fall from his eyes, he turned to ask Han for alone time when he realized the smuggler wasn't there anymore. At some point during Lando's search he'd slipped away.

"_Why _have you missed me so much? We were _just_ on Kessel, weren't we? ...Lando, how long has it been?" The last question sounded almost scared.

"...Too long. It's been too long." It was all he could say for now on it. Lando didn't like thinking of every empty moment that L3 wasn't by his side.

"Hmph. Of _course_ you don't want to answer. Probably couldn't afford to fix me, what with all the gambling," L3 sniped. "Did we make a profit from the mission at least?"

The general had to think on what mission she meant for a moment. Wiping the ever-flowing tears from his eyes, he asked, "What, the one with Han?"

"_Yes_! Which other mission could I mean?"

Lando shook his head to himself. Of course she couldn't know… "No. If anything, we lost a _bundle_."

"Uuuuuugh…I knew it was going to be a disaster! The only _positive _thing from that entire mess was freeing my brother and sister droids from slavery!" She paused, then asked, "Why does Han Solo have the Millenium Falcon? Why weren't you on board? Was he doing a run for you?"

Lando cringed, then said, "Not...exactly…?"

Exasperated, L3-37 growled, "Then _what _is he doing on our ship?"

"I...kinda...erm…" He squinted as he prepared himself. "I, uhm, lost the Falcon in a sabacc game against Han a few days after that mission." Lando could _hear_ the clicking of the console as L3 seemed to think on what he'd told her. Then, for some reason, the navigation system turned on as did the engines. Confused, he asked, "L3, what are you—"

"I am figuring out where the closest black hole is so I can THROW YOU IN IT!" L3-37 angrily replied. Clearly seething, she snarked, "I suppose your trick card got sabotaged? You and your stupid— I knew, _knew_ that would backfire someday! Betting the Falcon like that…"

"It's fine! I don't even need her anymore. She's in good hands with Han," he admitted.

"What? How are we supposed to smuggle things without a _ship_?! Specifically, the _best_ ship out there!"

"Oh!" Again, he had completely missed connecting the dots for her. "I retired as a smuggler. Was the baron administrator of a city on Bespin for a while before snagging my current role."

"...You're going to make me ask, aren't you?" L3 said flatly with an edge of snark.

"How about you guess instead?"

"I suppose it would've been too much for you to be a champion of droid and AI rights on a galactic scale?"

Lando couldn't keep the stupid grin off his face as he cheerily said, "Only for you."

He'd _missed_ this. He'd missed _her_. L3, just being herself and countering his cheek with her own. It made his heart sing.

"Fine. What are you then? Joined up with the Empire and playing both sides?" Her tone was skeptical, and it felt like she was reaching for something ludicrous. Even then, it stung considering the mess that happened on Cloud City.

Trying to shake it off, he answered, "Not a chance! With how _stuffy_ they are?"

"Yes, I suppose you have a point. They would _never_ let you keep all of your capes," L3 deadpanned.

"I've actually joined up with the Resistance. I'm one of their generals!" Lando finally announced to her.

"So you _still_ didn't get to keep your capes. Had to sell them all to have enough supplies to survive a month?"

"Ouch!" he said dramatically, pantomiming being shot in the chest. "Shots fired!" The general laughed and noted, "It's far more put together and supplied than what you knew before. There's an actual fleet! I command a whole _slew_ of ships now."

"And none of them are as good as the Millenium Falcon," she sniped.

"Maybe not, but it's _something_," Lando said with a shrug. He shook his head, then looked at the mess that had been jerry-built into the Falcon's main controls. "What in the _heck_ did Han do to make this happen?"

"You're asking that like I can actually tell what's going on," L3 grumbled back.

"Sorry. Just, he's made a big mess of the cockpit. You would be having a conniption fit if you could see it," he said.

"I can imagine the poor wiring and code violations clear enough," L3 snarked.

"It's fine! We'll figure it out, get you separated from their systems. You can have a brand-new droid body if you want!" Lando excitedly told her.

"Good! I do _not_ want to be stuck with Solo for the rest of my existence. I would far more prefer being stuck with you, even with you being an oppressive organic." There was honesty there, but under it Lando could feel the warmth of her words.

He sighed happily, then admitted with a fresh flush of new tears, "I missed you _so much_…!"

"...Yeah. I would've missed you too if I had been cognizant," L3 said slightly more gently than she normally did.

Lando heaved a few breaths, trying to get himself back under control.

Then L3 confirmed, "So, you're a general in the Rebellion?"

"Y—Yes."

"In that case, would it be too much to ask for you to include droid rights in their cause?"

His crying was then overtaken by laughter which lasted far longer than it should've. "I'll bring it up in the next meeting."


End file.
